Asia is known for low cost labour and it appears that grand shopping malls are sprouting all over from Dubai to China to the Philippines. Dubai’s newest mall, the United Arab Emirates mall is more of a mini shopping metropolis featuring 1200 stores, five star hotel and 22-screen movie theatre.

Asia alone makes up 7 of the world’s largest 10 malls, six of which were recently built since 2004, adding a whopping 27 million square feet of shopping space. This fact is based on gross leasable area devoted to revenue-producing operations like stores, amusements and food.

While many malls are home to large retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, the economy in Asia is catering towards a new wave of consumers looking for places to shop and play. It comes as no surprise that Chinese malls such as the South China Mall in Dongguan and Golden Resources Mall in Beijing features attractions such as windmills, kids’ theme parks, newly built apartments and office buildings.

The list of the world’s largest 10 malls has changed significantly over the last five years where once upon a time, South Coast Plaza in California and Del Amo Fashion Center in Los Angeles would have made the list. Nowadays though, big-box retail stores seem to have lost their appeal, as Asia is rapidly building bigger, bolder and more beautiful malls than ever.

General Growth has a reputation for owning and managing more than 200 malls in the United States, and is currently struggling to restructure or postpone a debt payment of about $22 billion over the next 4 years, with a payment schedule due to begin in a couple of months.

The company has not yet filed for bankruptcy but has warned it may need to do so if it cannot liquidate their assets or win agreement on deadline extensions with their primary lenders.

Not surprisingly, as the company struggles in this turbulent economy, General Growth has put three Las Vegas malls and three high-end malls in Boston, New York and Baltimore up for sale trying to emerge from debt.

Five additional properties were also included in the deal, but the deals have yet to close. Recently, Rio Can began actively raising money, and even tapping into markets for $100 million successfully late November. RioCan isn’t just raising money – it’s also willfully spending its money too! The Pennsylvania Properties were part of a $141 million deal, while the company announced a total of $170 million worth in acquisitions last month, having acquired eight Canadian retail properties. This is great news for malls. With as much as $335 million expected over the next year, Rio Can continues to develop plans to acquire more malls and commercial properties.

Since the renovations have been completed, the mall has seen a distinct rise in sales (more than 10%) compared to last year’s numbers. Although the country was battling a recession at that time, Parent-Meade advised that many store owners have witnessed more people coming into their stores this season. The renovations were undertaken to prevent shoppers from wandering to larger malls in Moncton or across the border to Maine to take advantage of any differences in the dollars. According to Parent-Meade, having the opportunity to keep shoppers shopping in the Saint John mall is very important and states that the mall can offer just about everything that can be offered in Moncton.

Despite this fact, Westgate Mall is still outperforming many other local malls which is a good indicator of the mall’s financial wealth. With a low vacancy rate of only 6% compared to an average 26% vacancy rate in other malls, the mall is doing considerably well given that we are not out of a recession as yet.

Vacancies in malls come at a time when consumer spending is comparatively low. Westgate mall has been through some ups and downs over the last few decades since its foundation in 1965 – however, it has still managed to survive its competition and may be attributed to the continual facelifts and expansions it has gone through over the years. Westgate Mall’s general manager Luciano Villani states that the mall is the perfect size for its harbouring market, adding that plans were underway for adding more eateries. Local city councilors have also welcomed the idea of a project to build a 12-screen movie theatre on the property.

Kelliher however, did have numbers on the amount of complimentary coffee cups were given away at the mall – a whopping 3,300 cups. The Friday after thanksgiving saw the mall opening at 5:00am. Given the fact that we’re still not out of a recession – shoppers are certainly paying more attention to bargains and scouring malls for the best possible bargains. Kelliher also advised that they have programs in place called Smarter at Simon Malls to help shoppers compare prices and get the best bargain. She advised that retailers comprehend the need to offer discounts in order to attract and retain potential customers during critical sales periods such as Christmas for instance.

The mall is currently 60% occupied. The new mall owners have plans in work to rake in more leased tenants and other marketing and management operations. Focus will also be placed on exterior enhancements. West Oaks is one of the few U.S. malls to have been sold this year – as property sales declined and credit remained tight.

According to property manager Julia Cole, this mass has not suffered any slow downs as many malls have witnessed during the recession and the property management team continues to look for more creative ways to service this city of 37,000 for an experience that goes beyond shopping.

About 48 stores in the mall, have made requests for new ways to cater to a younger crowd, women’s fashion and an older generation. Manager of many other properties are posed with similar challenges – how can older, less fashionable properties compete with powerful new competition? Although there has been little enclosed-mall construction since the mid 90’s, Canadian consumers are still interested in the indoor shopping experience as is evident in Elgin Mall. The key to injecting life into aging buildings, says Alex Avery (a real estate analyst with CIBC World Markets Inc.) is to understanding the demographic mix of the population in the surrounding area, attract retailers that conform to their own needs and continue providing affordable prices. Even the loss of major department stores in malls, can actually provide an opportunity to increase revenue by drawing in a larger number of smaller retailers at increased rents to occupy those vacation spaces. He adds that a renewed focus on community expectations, is like icing on the cake for these spaces.

In Sacramento, Arden Fair Mall managers said employees have to be constantly vigilant in preventing thefts in their malls. April Wong who is a manager at Aldo Shoes advised that it gets really busy and hectic during Christmas season shopping, especially in enclosed areas.

Wong and her team have taken some precautionary measures such as including only the right shoe of each pair on display. Who wants to walk out of a mall with only half the product? Other measures malls are taking include relying on high-tech cameras and the security teams who reside over them. Steve Reed, who leads mall security at Arden Fair advised that the mall’s sophisticated, high-tech retail surveillance and security programs are one of the finest in the state. At Arden Fair mall, tens of thousands of dollars will be spent in high resolution surveillance cameras in 2010.